BATHURST’s Harry Carter came away with the gold medal he craved at the recent NSW Under 19s and Elite Individual Track Championships, but it came from somewhere unexpected.
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On Friday at Dunc Gray Velodrome Carter took on the elite men’s individual time trial, over the one kilometre distance, and blew away the competition.
Carter, riding for the St George Cycling Club, became the new NSW ‘kilo’ champion thanks to his time of one minute and 5.9 seconds.
That time put him more than 1.4 seconds clear of runner-up Tom Bolton.
Only St George team-mate Ben Harvey stood between Carter and a second gold medal in Saturday’s elite men’s scratch race while on Sunday the Bathurst rider found bronze in the individual pursuit.
A podium result almost came Carter’s way on Friday with a fourth place finish in the points race.
Bathurst Cycling Club’s Jay Austin finished just two points clear of Carter to claim the bronze medal.
“Harry did the time trial first up, which he thought he might do as a bit of an activation for the rest of the championships,” Carter’s father and Bathurst coach, Glen, said.
“To be honest it probably hurt his points race a little bit … [but] he was still very excited to get the win.
“He was really happy with his individual pursuit. He knocked around five seconds off his previous personal best there.”
The gold in the kilo is Carter’s first at state level since joining the elite category.
The podium results for Bathurst Cycling Club riders didn’t end with Austin’s effort.
Emily Watts went head-to-head with Chloe Heffernan for the women’s under 19s individual pursuit gold medal but went down in the decider.
Heffernan finished in a time of 2:36.209 to win the gold ahead of Watts, who was 2.8 seconds off the pace.
Watts came close to snaring another medal with her fourth place in the points race.
Brooke Tuynman also finished on the podium with a third in the under 19s women’s keirin.
The club also had Harry Bryant, Catherine Hooton and Renee Covington taking part in the championships.
“I got the call from [Bathurst track coach] Marian Renshaw to look after Brooke and Harry Bryant. Brooke carried out a great race to get that medal in the keirin,” Glen Carter said.
“It was probably one of the more exciting races that took place there.
“Harry is still new to the track and he managed to finish in the main bunch of the scratch race, which is very impressive because there’s some very good talent in that under 19s age group.
“It was an excellent time that Emily put in to qualify for the individual pursuit final and exciting as well for her to go up against Chloe Heffernan. She pushed her in that race.”
It’s now the turn of Bathurst Cycling Club’s under 15s and 17s to take on their NSW Individual Track Championships.
The 15s and 17s get their racing underway on Friday at Dunc Gray Velodrome.
Jed Powell, Eliza Bennett, Kalinda Robinson, Tyler Puzicha and Luke Tuckwell will be representing the Bathurst club at the event.